SECURE SYNOPSIS: 07 MARCH 2019
NOTE: Please remember that following ‘answers’ are NOT ‘model answers’. They are NOT synopsis too if we go by definition of the term. What we are providing is content that both meets demand of the question and at the same time gives you extra points in the form of background information.
Topic– Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country.
Bipin Chandra- India after Independence
Why this question:
The question is about the Dravidian movement in the post-independence history of India and its significant impact.
Directive word:
analyse – When asked to analyse, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary.
Key demands of the question:
The answer should highlight the genesis of Dravidian movement in India from the peninsular region from – Justice party to Self-respect Movement to formation of Dravidar Kazhagam, into the concept of Anti-North Orientation and later Dravida Nadu getting Split into Dravidar Kazhagam and formation of DMK AIDMK. Thus parallelly highlighting the significance of the movement.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction
Start by tracing historical genesis of the movement through the formation of Justice party and how the roots of the Dravidian movement lie in Brahmin-non-Brahmin conflict.
Body
Discuss what way the Dravidian Movement initiated as a movement against Brahmins, after independence added the dimension of Anti north orientation, Role of Periyar, demand for Independent south Indian nation/ Dravida Nadu or Dravidsthan, later anti-Hindi protests. Briefly provide for a passing reference for the failures along with the social reforms it brought in.
Keywords:
Ideals of self-respect and social empowerment, Brahmin hegemony, leadership of C N Annadurai, Dravida Nadu / Dravidistan etc.
Conclusion
Conclude that despite limitations, the Dravidian movement was successful in the abolition of Devadasi system, promotion of inter-caste and inter-religious marriages and legalization of marriages without Brahman priest and therefore reducing Brahmanical dominance.
Introduction:
The Justice Party was a political party in the Madras Presidency of British India established in 1917 by T. M. Nair and P. Thyagaraya Chetty. It was the first backward class mobilization which created social change and political empowerment. It opposed Brahmins in civil service and politics, and this anti-Brahmin attitude shaped many of its ideas and policies. The root of the Dravidian movement lies here.
Body:
The Self-Respect Movement or Dravidian Movement:
It was founded in 1925 by E. V. Ramasamy Naicker or Periyar with the aim of achieving a society where backward sections have equal human rights, and encouraging backward sections to have self-respect. Periyar wrote several articles on women’s rights, on atheism and against the caste system. He represented alternative political traditions in the age when Indian national congress was attempting to establish a unitary ideal of nationalism against colonialism.
The main objectives of Dravidian movement were:
- Dismantling of Brahmin hegemony.
- Revitalization of the “Dravidian Languages” (that include Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Tamil).
- Social reform by the abolition of existing caste systems, religious practices
- Equality with stress on economic and social justice to fight the inequalities.
- Rejection of domination of north in southern politics.
- Reversion of Tamil culture and ethos as mentioned in the ancient Sangam literature
- Social reform by the abolition of existing caste systems, religious practices for which he advocated inter-caste self-respect marriages without the need for Brahmin priest.
- Glorifying the Tamil history and language by appealing to people to give up the caste suffix in their names, and to not mention caste.
- Recasting women’s equal position in the society by empowerment to take their own decisions.
- He instituted inter-dining with food cooked by Dalits in public conferences in the 1930s.
- He demanded that self-respect should precede Swaraj.
- The justice party was taken over and renamed it as Dravida Kazhagam.
Post Independence Events:
- The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) was formed in 1949 by some of the ambitious followers of Periyar under the leadership of C N Annadurai.
- Unlike Periyar this group had deep seated political ambitions. The DK and DMK movement, started initially as a protest against the domination of the Brahmans in Tamilnadu, was given a new dimension after India’s Independence when the attack was directed against the alleged domination of North India.
- Main demand of the DMK was establishment of a separate Dravida Nadu / Dravidistan consisting of the four southern states.
- After the 16th Constitutional Amendment (popularly known as the Anti-Secessionist Amendment), seccessionist tendency was declared illegal and the demand for politically independent nation faded away.
- The party stance changed from the demand for secessionism to greater state autonomy while limiting the powers of center making Indian federalism into a bargaining federalism.
- Efforts by the Indian Government to make Hindi the sole official language after 1965 was not acceptable to many non-Hindi Indian states, who wanted the continued use of English.
- Even after passage of Official Languages in 1963 and an amendment in 1967, the issue of language has not been resolved for example Tamil Nadu passed a resolution in 2006 to make Tamil the official language of Madras high court.
Outcomes of Dravidian Movement:
Limitations:
- The Dravidian movement failed to liberate women as well as lower caste. It could not ensure equal rights for them.
- The ambit of movement was confined only to Tamilnadu.
- The Dravidian movement may have succeeded in reducing the dominance of the upper castes in administration, however, it has strengthened the middle castes which are the backbone of the rural economy.
- Without proper land reforms middle-class control rural economy which has kept the lower castes in a continued state of suppression.
Successes:
- The Dravidian movement was successful in the abolition of Devadasi system
- Promotion of inter-caste and inter-religious marriages
- Legalization of marriages without Brahman priest and therefore reducing brahminical dominance.
Conclusion:
The Dravidian Movement played a seminal role in shaping the history of Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu today presents a complex relationship, which intertwines a balance of power expressed through caste, populist mobilisation based on Tamil identity, and a penchant for welfarism in policymaking.
Topic– Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country.
Bipin Chandra – India after Independence
Why this question:
The question is in the context of post-independence Refugee crisis that immediately followed the partition of the country in 1947, The question is in general about the crisis and how the government then handled it and until today what changes have been witnessed in terms of Refugee problems and the measures taken to resolve them.
demand of the question:
The question directly is asking you to discuss the measures/steps taken by the Government of India to resolve the issue of Refugees post-independence. Thus one should very briefly discuss the issue and major focus should be on the “Measures” , later part of the answer should bring out the present conditions of refugees in India, how the government of today is handling it.
Directive word
Comment- here we have to express our knowledge and understanding of the issue and form an overall opinion thereupon
Structure of the answer:
Introduction
Narrate the background of events India- Pak partition, further division of Pak into East Pakistan and West Pakistan which later on led to the formation of Bangladesh and highlight the problems of Refugees and their rehabilitation.
Body
Pick up the Refugee issue across the borders of the country from past to present mainly – The refugee of Partition, The Bangladeshi refugee, Tibetan refugee Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, Afghan refugees, Rohingya refugees, Chakma and Hejong refugees etc. Discuss problems , measures taken to tackle them ( each one had a tailor made approach) etc. and discuss the conditions of today.
Keywords:
Human rights, mass exodus, violence, national security, etc.
Conclusion
conclude how over the years India has received wave after wave refugees from many of its neighbors’. And the government of India has generally followed the principle of non-refoulement, refusing to send refugees back to a place where they face a threat to their life.
Introduction:
A refugee is defined as a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country. In the seven decades since it became an independent country, India has seen and largely welcomed waves of migrants fleeing conflict in neighbouring nations
Body:
- The refugee of Partition:
- People who crossed over the newly formed boundaries between India and Pakistan—by choice or forcibly—didn’t lose their nationalities, they were still forced to live the lives of a refugee.
- Refugee camps across north India served as homes for those who had borne the brunt of Partition.
- The fledgling state was just trying to stand on its feet and struggling to provide these refugees with basic amenities like food, clothing and shelter, the 1948 war with Pakistan broke out.
Measures:
- Since these refugees were automatically the citizens of newly independent India, the question of a threat to national security due to their presence was out of the question.
- The rehabilitation of the Partition refugees was carried out due to efforts of activists like Kamaladevi Chattopadyay.
- The numbers were such that an entire city—Faridabad—had to be built to rehabilitate refugees who were living in appalling conditions in various camps.
- Tibetan refugee Crisis:
- Almost a decade after Partition, in 1959, the Dalai Lama, along with more than 100,000 followers, fled Tibet and came to India seeking political asylum.
- Granting asylum to them on humanitarian grounds proved costly to India, earning the ire of the Chinese government and led to the 1962 war.
- Sino-Indian relations took a major hit. Border issues between the two countries, and Chinese encroachment on Indian territory, began to crop up with greater frequency
Measures:
- Political asylum was granted with Refugee colonies set up in various parts of the country across northern and north-eastern Indian states.
- The seat of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual as well as the political leader of the Tibetan community, was established in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh.
- The Tibetan refugees continue to live harmoniously, largely, with other local Indian groups and as a community they are perceived as ‘peaceful’.
- The Bangladeshi refugee:
- During Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971, when millions of refugees migrated from the country to India, fleeing the conflict between the Pakistani army and Bangladeshi forces.
- This led to a sudden spike in population in states bordering Bangladesh, and it became increasingly difficult for the government of India to ensure food security.
- According to some estimates, more than 10 million Bangladeshi refugees escaped in 1971 and took shelter in India.
- Unlike the Tibetan refugees, they are seen as a security threat.
- The constant tussle between the local communities and Bangladeshi refugees today often sparks violence, resulting all too often in deaths.
- The conflict is fiercest in a number of north-eastern states, such as Assam, Tripura and Manipur.
Measures:
- The Supreme Court ordered and is monitoring the preparation of a National Registry of Citizens.
- The Sri Lankan Tamil refugees:
- Another sizeable group of refugees in India comprises Sri Lankan Tamils who abandoned the island nation.
- Active discriminatory policies by successive Sri Lankan governments, events like the Black July Riots of 1983, and the bloody Sri Lankan civil war has fuelled the issue.
- More than 1.34 lakh Sri Lankan Tamils crossed the Palk Strait to India between 1983 and 1987 during the first in flow. In three more phases, many more refugees entered India.
- The refugees remain a sensitive issue, which has time and again strained India’s—and Tamil Nadu’s—relations with Sri Lanka.
Measures:
- The war-torn Sri Lankans sought refuge in southern India with more than 60,000 refugees currently staying in 109 camps in Tamil Nadu alone, since it was easier for them, as Tamils, to adjust to life there.
- The Afghan refugees:
- While not one of the larger refugee groups in the country, a number of Afghans also took shelter in India after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Small groups of Afghan refugees kept coming to India in subsequent years.
Measures:
- These refugees are mostly concentrated in and around Delhi, and have largely established spaces for themselves.
- According to the website of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), many of the Hindu and Sikh Afghans who came to India after fleeing fighting in their home country in the early 1990s have been granted citizenship over the past decade.
- Both the World Bank and UNHCR reports suggest that currently India has more than 200,000 Afghan refugees living in its territory.
- The Rohingya refugees
- The debate over refugees gained national prominence yet again last year after 40,000 Rohingya Muslims escaped Myanmar to take shelter in India.
- The office of the UNHCR has issued identity cards to about 16,500 Rohingya in India, which it says helps “prevent harassment, arbitrary arrests, detention and deportation” of refugees.
- India has categorized the Rohingya as illegal immigrants and a security threat, siding with the Burmese government.
Measures:
- The Indian government has appealed to Myanmar to take back the Rohingya refugees.
- The Chakma and Hajong refugees:
- Many from the Chakma and Hajong communities—who once lived in the Chittagong hill tracts, most of which are located in Bangladesh—have been living as refugees in India for more than five decades, mostly in the North-East and West Bengal.
- According to the 2011 census, 47,471 Chakmas live in Arunachal Pradesh alone.
Measures:
- In 2015, the Supreme Court of India had directed the central government to give citizenship to both Chakma and Hajong refugees.
- In September 2017, the government of India decided to provide citizenship to these groups, despite opposition from many groups in Arunachal Pradesh, where these refugees are concentrated.
Indian status on international conventions:
India is neither a signatory to the 1951 Refugees’ Convention nor the 1967 protocol, which has 140 signatories, the country has still served as a home to the largest refugee population in South Asia.
Conclusion:
Over the years India has received wave after wave refugees from many of its neighbours. The government’s statements during the Rohingya crisis notwithstanding, India has generally followed the principle of non-refoulement, refusing to send refugees back to a place where they face a threat to their life. For a country of India’s resources, this is an achievement of no small magnitude.
Topic: urbanization – their problems and their remedies.
Why this question:
The article provides highlights of the study made by Switzerland-based IQAir AirVisual and the environmental champion Greenpeace calling for a red-alert response. According to the findings, India is home to seven of the 10 most polluted cities in the world, going by air-quality numbers recorded last year.
Key demand of the question:
The question expects us to bring out why air pollution is a huge challenge for the cities of our country, making them amongst the world’s most insufferable cities.one is expected to bring out the economic impacts, societal impacts, health impacts etc. Examine the causes behind air pollution in cities and measures to address the same.
Directive word:
Examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we have to look into the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications.
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin with the air pollution conditions in our cities and point in the direction of its severity.
Body:
Discuss the following :
- Present some facts from the report, discuss the causes of the present condition.
- Impact of the air pollution in Indian cities under various heads like Health, economy, society etc.
- Provide for a detailed analysis of why have the problems turned into a menace and then move onto suggest measures to tackle the same.
Conclusion:
Conclude with the importance of dealing with the issue and the way forward.
Introduction:
A latest study by Switzerland-based IQAir AirVisual and the environmental champion Greenpeace calls for a red-alert response to India’s worsening Air pollution crisis. According to the findings, India is home to seven of the 10 most polluted cities in the world, going by air-quality numbers recorded last year. Gurugram and Ghaziabad are the most polluted, while Delhi is the worst off among capital cities. ICMR estimates reveal that one in every eight deaths in India is attributable to air pollution, which now contributes to more disease burden than smoking.
Body:
Causes for air pollution:
- The problem of Air Pollution is aggravated by the burning of urban waste, diesel soot, vehicular exhaust, road and construction dust, and power generation.
- According to the Agriculture Ministry, 23 million tonnes of paddy straw is burnt in Punjab, Haryana and UP every year.
- Air pollution was not only confined to urban areas or cities alone, but affected rural regions as well, with rural Indians affected more disproportionately due to the burning of solid fuels.
Impact of the air pollution in Indian cities:
- Health:
- Air pollution has become a year-round phenomenon particularly in north India which causes health impacts far beyond the seasonal rise of respiratory illnesses.
- It is now the leading risk factor for chronic obstructive lung disease in India, and a major contributor to pneumonia and lung cancer.
- In 2017, air pollution accounted for 12.4 lakh deaths in India, which included 6.7 lakh deaths due to outdoor particulate matter air pollution and 4.8 lakh deaths due to household air pollution.
- Over half of the deaths due to air pollution were in persons less than 70 years of age.
- Economic:
- According to a report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), India had the highest share of welfare costs (or a loss of income from labour), of about $220 billion (about ₹1.4 trillion), in South and South-East Asia of a combined total of $380 billion from mortality due to air pollution.
- In addition to human lives lost, there’s an estimated global cost of $225 billion in lost labour, and trillions in medical costs, Greenpeace report says.
- Government is keen to ascend the World Bank’s “ease of doing business” chart, but images of people walking around Delhi in safety masks do little to attract investment.
Government efforts in dealing with air pollution:
- The government acknowledged air pollution as a pan–India problem with the drafting of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which was intended to build and strengthen the institutional capacity to monitor air quality across India, carry out indigenous studies to understand the health impacts of air pollution and create a national emission inventory.
- Banning the use of private vehicles from November 1 onwards in Delhi, although drastic, will definitely not be enough to curb pollution.
- Odd-even schemes and, recently, the allowance by the Supreme Court (SC) for only green or zero-emission firecrackers, are the episodic measures that have been used, and still continue to be, to combat this methodical pollution.
- There have also been instances of ban on construction activities.
- States have got nearly Rs.650 crore to help farmers buy subsidised equipment such as Happy Seeder, Paddy Straw Choppers and Zero Till Drill.
- There is a 50% subsidy to farmers, and a 75% waiver to cooperative societies, agencies that rent out equipment, farmers’ interest groups or gram panchayats to buy such machines.
Way forward:
- Short term measures should be accompanied by measures that increase the forest cover of the land and provide farmers with an alternative to burning the remains of their crops.
- An innovative approach could be to use climate change funds to turn farm residues into a resource, using technological options such as converting them into biofuels and biofertilizers.
- Proactive engagements are necessary to persuade and reassure farmers.
- It is important to find other uses for stubble such as biomass, which may encourage farmers to look for alternative sources of income.
- India should at least now give high importance to the WHO warning about air pollution being the new tobacco. Sharply escalated, deterrent parking fees can be implemented.
- From an urban development perspective, large cities should reorient their investments to prioritise public transport, favouring electric mobility.
- Incentives for adoption of alternate mobility technologies should be promoted.
- The World Bank has said it is keen to enhance its lending portfolio to tackle air pollution, opening a new avenue for this.
- Governments should make the use of personal vehicles in cities less attractive through strict road pricing mechanisms like Congestion tax, Green-house Gas tax
- Need to speed up the journey towards LPG and solar-powered stoves.
- Addressing vehicular emissions is within India’s grasp but requires a multi-pronged approach. It needs to combine the already-proposed tighter emission norms (in form of BS VI), with a push for shared mobility and public transport and adoption of alternate mobility technologies.
- NCAP should take precedence from emerging practices in the country—pollution cess in Delhi on truck entry, big diesel cars, and diesel fuel sales and the coal cess—to generate dedicated funds to finance clean air action plan.
- Tackle road dust by mechanised sweeping and water-sprinkling but what would be more beneficial is if the sides of the roads could be paved or covered with grass that holds the soil together and stops the production of the dust in the first place.
- Attention to non-technological aspects such as urban planning, to reduce driving, and to increase cycling, walking, and use of public transport are needed.
Topic: Social empowerment. / population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies./ Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation./ Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.
Ushering in a new social contract – The Hindustan times 7March2019
Why this question:
The article discusses the role of Minimum income and how it can help the State deliver a basic standard of living for every poor family. Under this context it becomes important to analyze the pros and cons of the Universal basic income concept.
Key demand of the question
The answer must weigh the pros and cons of the concept of Universal basic income as to how the minimum income proposal would not absolve the state of its core responsibilities of providing food, education and healthcare for the poor but however It will strengthen the State’s ability to deliver on its promise of a guaranteed minimum standard of living .
Directive word
Discuss– this is an all-encompassing directive which mandates us to write in detail about the key demand of the question. we also have to discuss about the related and important aspects of the question in order to bring out a complete picture of the issue in hand.
Structure of the answer
Introduction:
One can start with facts and details of the research on the anonymous “London Patient” of HIV and the stem cell transplant involving CCR5-delta 32 homozygous donor cells.
Body:
Discuss the details of –
- What is Universal Basic Income (UBI)?
- Why Universal Basic Income?
- How does it work, pros and cons.
- challenges that the state may face in Implementation of UBI.
- Case studies supporting your opinion.
Conclusion:
UBI, though a noble idea, but should not completely outdo the existing essential social services/schemes related to education and health which are not only the core functions of the state but also indispensable for meaningful and dignified individual existence. However, the alternatives to UBI can be explored like direct benefits transfers, conditional cash transfers and other income support schemes which also hold the potential to yield the above mentioned benefits.
Introduction:
Universal basic income is a form of social security in which all citizens or residents of a country regularly receive an unconditional sum of money, either from a government or some other public institution, in addition to any income received from elsewhere. The payment is enough to cover the cost of living. The goal is to provide financial security.
The state of Sikkim recently announced that UBI will be implemented in state by 2022.
Body:
It characterises the basic income in five divisions — Periodic (being paid at regular intervals, not lump sum), cash payment (not in kind or vouchers, leaving it on the recipient to spend it as they like), individual (not to households or families), universal (for all), and unconditional (irrespective of income or prospects of job).
Rationale behind UBI:
- The average Indian family’s monthly income in 1938 was Rs 25.
- Today, the average Indian family’s monthly income is roughly Rs 50,000, a 2,000 times increase since 1938.
- The poorest 10% of Indian families earn a mere Rs 5,000 a month.
- 25 million Indian families earn just a tenth of what the average Indian family earns.
- And, 50 million households earn just a fifth of the average Indian family.
- While the Indian economy continues to grow, the much touted trickle down impact of economic development seems elusive to the poorer sections of our society.
- There is a real risk of the bottom quarter of Indian families being left behind completely.
- The plan to ensure a basic minimum standard of living for every Indian family that was envisaged by Nehru and Bose in 1938 is applicable even today.
The pros of UBI include:
- Fights Poverty and vulnerability: Poverty and vulnerability will be reduced in one fell swoop. It increases equality among citizens as envisaged in our DPSP.
- new social contract: A social contract that will empower citizens with the freedom of choice. UBI treats beneficiaries as agents and entrusts citizens with the responsibility of using welfare spending as they see best; this may not be the case with in-kind transfers. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen had also propounded that choice should be given to people, which will lead to development.
- Better targeting of poor: As all individuals are targeted, exclusion error (poor being left out) is zero though inclusion error (rich gaining access to the scheme) is 60 percent.
- Example: The India Human Development Survey found that in 2011-12 about half of the officially poor did not have the BPL card, while about one-third of the non-poor had it.
- Fighting technological unemployment: With IR4.0 on the rise, there is an increase in the automation leading to loss of many white and blue collared jobs. UBI can act as a sort of security net for the millions of people who will be left jobless by the tech revolution.
- Supporting unpaid care workers: Those with ill or differently abled relatives are often forced to quit their jobs and look after them full-time. UBI would allow care-workers to support themselves, encouraging care work and taking pressure off public services that provide care to the sick and elderly.
- Expanding the middle class: The economic growth of high-income countries is making the rich richer, but having very little effect on the working classes. The research of economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty showed that “the bottom half of earners went from making 20 percent of overall income in 1979 to just 13 percent in 2014. The top 1 percent, on the other hand, have gone from making 11 percent to 20 percent. The pie has gotten vastly bigger, and the richest families have reaped bigger and bigger pieces from it.” UBI would help balance this inequality and expand the ever-shrinking middle class.
- Insurance against shocks: This income floor will provide a safety net against health, income and other shocks.
- Improvement in financial inclusion Payment: transfers will encourage greater usage of bank accounts, leading to higher profits for banking correspondents (BC) and an endogenous improvement in financial inclusion. Credit – increased income will release the constraints on access to credit for those with low income levels.
- Psychological benefits: A guaranteed income will reduce the pressures of finding a basic living on a daily basis.
- Ending abuse: Those who suffer domestic abuse, mainly women, become trapped in violent situations because they don’t have the means to leave them. UBI would make leaving an abusive partner easy, and would unleash the potential of countless people trapped by domestic violence.
- Administrative efficiency: A UBI in place of a plethora of separate government schemes will reduce the administrative burden on the state.
The cons of UBI:
- Conspicuous spending: Households, especially male members, may spend this additional income on wasteful activities.
- Disincentive to work: A minimum guaranteed income might make people lazy and opt out of the labour market.
- Gender disparity induced by cash Gender norms may regulate the sharing of UBI within a household – men are likely to exercise control over spending of the UBI. This may not always be the case with other in-kind transfer
- Implementation: Given the current status of financial access among the poor, a UBI may put too much stress on the banking system.
- Poor fiscal capacity: India doesn’t have the fiscal capacity to implement Universal Basic Income. Economic Survey calculations showed that a 75% universality rate with an annual Universal Basic Income of Rs 7,620 per year at 2016-17 prices will cost about 5% of the GDP. Economist Pranab Bardhan showed that inflation– indexed Universal Basic Income of Rs 10,000 at 2014-15 prices—about three-quarters of that year’s poverty line—will cost about 10% of the GDP.
- Distort labour Market: Universal Basic Income can create distortions in the labour market. A steady, permanent and guaranteed income without any work is likely to affect labour mobility and participation. It can cause a rise in the wages too.
- Political economy of universality: ideas for self-exclusion Opposition may arise from the provision of the transfer to rich individuals as it might seem to trump the idea of equity and state welfare for the poor.
- Exposure to market risks (cash vs. food): Unlike food subsidies that are not subject to fluctuating market prices, a cash transfer’s purchasing power may severely be curtailed by market fluctuations.
Economic Survey 2016-17 views:
- Universal Basic Income should replace the welfare scheme. The Economic survey wants UBI to replace and NOT supplement the existing social welfare, anti-poverty schemes like MGNREGA, PMJSY etc
- Economic Survey has suggested replacing all current cash transfers with universal basic income.
- Survey in a bold step ensured that universal basic income will not be distributive in nature. The burden to distribute the income will not be shared by the rich.
- The Survey points out that the two prerequisites for a successful UBI are: functional JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhar and Mobile) system as it ensures that the cash transfer goes directly into the account of a beneficiary and Centre-State negotiations on cost sharing for the programme.
Conclusion:
UBI holds a lot of potential as a welfare scheme, however in its present form needs to be re-evaluated. There is a need for a 10-fold increase in resource mobilisation combined with increasing the tax base for funding. However, the alternatives to UBI can be explored like direct benefits transfers, conditional cash transfers and other income support schemes which also hold the potential to yield the above mentioned benefits
Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
Why this question:
The article highlights an approach to reform the education system in India, it recognizes that piecemeal initiatives are unlikely to improve student learning, thus its high time to take up a systemic approach to reform the current system to save the demographic dividend from turning into a demographic disaster.
Key demand of the question:
The question expects you to provide for a detailed picture of the scenario, you must detail upon the issues and challenges being faced by the system and highlight the need for systematic approach as a solution.
Directive word
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Critically analyze – When asked to analyze, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a fair judgement.
Structure of the answer
Introduction:
Start with highlighting the importance of education system for the country’s progress on all fronts.
Body:
Body should discuss the following broad aspects in detail –
- Current Issues of Education system in India
- Necessity of a systematic approach; its impact
- Way forward
Conclusion:
Conclude with what way can we shorten the distance between the nation’s current state of education and its aspirations, end the answer with optimism, quote examples of government’s initiatives policies in this direction.
Introduction:
India’s demographic dividend depends on the learning level of students. The quality of education has a direct bearing on any economy. The ASER report by NGO Pratham shows the prevalence of learning deficit and the poverty of basic reading and arithmetic skills among students in Indian schools.
Body:
The issues and challenges faced by education system in India are:
- Expenditure on Education:
- The expenses on education as a percentage to GDP, India lags behind some developed/ developing nations.
- Infrastructure deficit:
- Dilapidated structures, single-room schools, lack of drinking water facilities, separate toilets and other educational infrastructure is a grave problem.
- Student-teacher ratio:
- Another challenge for improving the Indian education system is to improve the student teacher ratio.
- In India, this ratio is very high as compared to certain comparable countries in the world. For example, while in developed countries this ratio stands at 11.4, in case of India, it is as high as 22.0.
- Corruption and leakages:
- The transfer of funds from the central to state to local governments to school leads to involvement of many intermediaries.
- The fund transfer is drastically reduced by the time it reaches the true beneficiaries.
- High rates of corruption and leakages plague the system, undermine its legitimacy and harm the many thousands of honest headmasters and teachers.
- Quality of Teachers:
- Lack of well trained, skilled and knowledgeable teachers which provide the foundation for a high quality education system.
- Teacher shortages and poorly qualified teachers are both a cause and effect of poorly paid and managed teaching cadres.
- Non-Academic burden:
- The teachers are overburdened with senseless reports and administrative workload. This eats into the time which is necessary for teaching.
- A study by the National Institute of Education Planning and Administration (NIEPA) revealed that teachers spend only around 19 percent of their time teaching while the rest is spent mostly on non-teaching administrative work.
- Poor salary:
- Teachers are paid miserly salaries which affect their interest and dedication to work. They will look for other avenues like tuitions or coaching centers and coax the students to attend it.
- This has dual effect, firstly the quality of teaching in schools drop and secondly, the poor students are forced to spend money despite constitutional provision of free education.
- Teacher Absenteeism:
- Absence of teachers during school hours is rampant. The lack of accountability and poor governance structures add to the woes.
- Lack of Accountability:
- School Management Committees are largely dysfunctional. Many exist solely on paper.
- Parents are often not aware of their rights and if they are it is difficult for them to make their voice heard.
- High drop-out rates:
- The drop-out rates in schools, especially girls, is very high.
- Many factors like poverty, patriarchal mindset, lack of toilets in schools, distance to schools and cultural elements lead to children dropping out from education.
- School closure:
- Many schools are closed to low student strength, lack of teachers and infrastructure. The competition posed by private schools is also a major challenge to government schools.
A systemic approach to reforming education system in the country needs the following:
- The current approach, mainly academic in nature, recognizes that piecemeal initiatives are unlikely to improve student learning.
- A new systemic approach to reforming education is now emerging in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan.
- It is accompanied with administrative reforms that create an enabling environment for these new practices to take root.
- It involves aligning all stakeholders and orienting their collective efforts towards following a single and “comprehensive transformation road map” towards better learning outcomes.
- Academic interventions involve the adoption of grade competence framework instead of just syllabus completion.
- Effective delivery of remedial education for weaker students like after-school coaching, audio-video based education.
- Administrative reforms that enable and incentivize teachers to perform better through data-driven insights, training, and recognition. Example: Performance based increments in Salary.
- Together with human enablement, a seamless ecosystem or a system enabler (often a technology platform) is also set up.
- This streamlines communication and saves teachers’ valuable time that they might have otherwise spent on administrative tasks, such as leave applications, allowance claims, transfers and service book updates.
- It is also important to track the performance of the schooling system on a regular basis to course correct where needed.
- Therefore, a robust accountability system is required wherein there is a clear articulation of the roles and responsibilities of all relevant stakeholders, and the administration is empowered to act where necessary.
- This involves frequent real-time, data-enabled review meetings at the block, district, and state levels.
- These states have also developed user-friendly dashboards that assist education officials and the state leadership in decision-making.
Outcomes:
- Haryana has already seen significant progress in its learning outcomes, with grade-level competence seeing an increase from 40% in 2014, to approximately 80% currently, as per the ongoing third-party assessments.
- Systemic changes have led to Rajasthan’s steady rise among states to the top of the education chart in NAS in 2017.
- The changes are reinstating parents’ faith in the public education system, with states like Himachal Pradesh witnessing a reverse migration of students from private schools to government schools, as learning levels of government and private schools begin to converge.
Way forward:
- Digitization:
- Create a single-window system for infrastructure and mainstream fund-flows: In Bihar, only around 10 percent of the schools fulfils infrastructure norms. A study revealed that files for renovating schools often go on a two-year journey through various departments.
- The same can be applied for teacher salaries and school funds. These can be transferred directly from the State to the teachers and schools. There is no need to involve the District or Block in this process.
- Leveraging the audio-visual edutainment to make education more interesting and easier to understand for the children. This will improve the quality as well as reduce the drop-out rates.
- Implementing bio-metric attendance for teachers and students for every class can help reduce absenteeism.
- Empower School Management Committees by using mobile phones:
- To develop a system that facilitates School Management Committee members by fostering democratic accountability.
- Social audits should also be carried out for effective functioning.
- Better pre-service teacher training coupled with transparent and merit-based recruitments is a lasting solution for teacher quality.
- Improve the quality of teacher education by making teacher training mandatory. Example: National Council for Teacher Education Act amendment bill, Diksha portal to train teachers.
- Increase the public spending on education to 6% of GDP as recommended by many committees like the recent TSR Subramaniam committee.
- Teachers are rarely reprimanded for non-performance, while there are recommendations for removal of non-detention policy. The blame is squarely on the children, such an attitude must be wiped out.
- Education policy in India is focused on inputs rather than learning outcomes; It has a strong elitist bias in favour of higher education as opposed to primary or secondary education. This needs a change by coming out with a new policy.
Conclusion:
State-wide campaigns, driven by the state’s political and bureaucratic leadership, re-energize parents and the community at large, and channel the attention of all stakeholders towards better learning outcomes. Only when we align incentives of all stakeholders, and enable them while holding them accountable, can we shorten the distance between the nation’s current state of education and its aspirations.
Topic: Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.
Why this question:
The article is in the backdrop of the recent belated acquittal of death row convicts by the supreme court that highlights the need to scrap the death penalty.
Key demand of the question:
The answer should discuss the following – the aspect whether the death penalty can stop crimes from being committed, what are the problems involved in capital punishment; a critical analysis of the subject in terms of its merits and demerits.
Directive word
Critically analyze – When asked to analyze, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a fair judgement.
Structure of the answer
Introduction:
Discuss the context of the question, quote the recent examples, highlight the trends of the judgements passed by the apex court off late.
Body:
Discussion of the answer should capture the following points :
- Problems with death penalty.support with facts and reports.
- Arguments supporting for Death Penalty and arguments against it.
- Analyse critically the aspects such as – Doesn’t the death penalty prevent crime?, capital punishment for terrorists, humane and painless aspects of execution in a capital punishment, Human rights involved etc.
- Suggest a way forward.
Conclusion –
Suggest how two-thirds of countries in the world have either abolished the death penalty outright, or no longer use it in practice. Although there have been a few steps backwards, these must be weighed up against the clear worldwide trend towards abolition.
Introduction:
Capital punishment also called as death penalty is the execution of an offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law. The debate on whether to abolish the death penalty or not, has been raging in India and in several other countries for decades.
Brutal rapes in India have not decreased despite enforcement of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 which is a piece of legislation which prescribes the death penalty and life imprisonment for sexual assaults. No study has shown that the death penalty deters murder more than life imprisonment.
Body:
Problems with death penalty:
- The death penalty is error-ridden. For Instance, Between January 1, 2000 and June 31, 2015, the Supreme Court imposed 60 death sentences. It subsequently admitted that it had erred in 15 of them (25%).
- The landmark SC judgment in 2009 in the Santosh Bariyar case in which Justice Sinha went to the extent of admitting the undue influence of public opinion in awarding death. Besides citing the examples of the Bhagalpur blinding case and the attacks on Kasab’s right to trial in 26/11 case, the Bariyar verdict pointed to ”the danger of capital sentencing becoming a spectacle in the media”.
- The death penalty unfairly targets the poor and marginalised.
- The late President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, had once said a study by his office into the background of convicts seeking mercy showed “a social and economic bias”.
- In 2016, National Law University released its Death Penalty Research Project consisting of interviews with death row convicts. It found a disproportionate percentage of the convicts (80%) were poor, backward castes or from the minorities.
- Those without capital get the punishment. Penurious prisoners on legal aid get it the most, while others with private lawyers remain untouched.
- Executions occurred in 2 cases for every 1 lakh murders. Such a selection cannot but be freakish.
- Constitutional, legal and policy issues cannot be determined by the victim’s understandable hunger for revenge without leading to a frenzy where the death penalty is demanded, as it often is, for wholly inappropriate cases (accidental deaths, cheating, etc.).
Death Penalty is needed because:
- The punishment is not arbitrary because, it comes out of a judicial process. To call it arbitrary, one has to necessarily prove the process as flawed.
- It is being implemented in the “rarest of the rare” cases and the fact is during the last 13 years, only four people have been executed.
- The hanging of Ajmal Kasab and Yakub Memon strongly affirms India’s commitment to the protection of life.
- People criticise it on arbitrariness, irreversibility and human rights and these are not valid arguments.
- Its constitutionality is upheld, even in liberal democracies like U.S. It is not reflection of uncivilised society.
- India’s neighbourhood is not peaceful, unlike Scandinavia.
- It is not in a group of countries, like European Union.
- India has got troubled borders. Several forces are trying to destabilise the very idea of our Nation from across the Border.
- The sacredness of life can only be seen to be protected, if those who take it away are proportionately punished.
The need to abolish Death Penalty:
- It unfairly targets poor and marginalised, that means, those without money & power.
- Executions occurred in around five cases for every 1 lakh murders and it looks quite arbitrary. It depends on judges personal beliefs.
- India’s murder rate has declined continuously since 1991 and at present the lowest, except for 1963.
- Punishment should not imitate crime.
- As per the recent Death Penalty India Report by the National Law University, Delhi, the structural flaws in our criminal procedure and criminal justice system are most pronounced in death penalty cases.
- Most of the civilised world abolished it. Death penalty has not deterred terrorism, murder or even theft.
- From 2000-2015, Supreme Court imposed 60 death sentences and subsequently admitted that it had erred in 15 of them. So, it clearly admitted that it has arbitrarily imposed the most extreme punishment.
- The Police is not known for its probity or efficiency in our Country.
- Delays in the Criminal Justice System disproportionately affects those, who suffer the tyranny of the uncertainty of their life.
The Law Commission of India has attempted to analyse the need for the death penalty.
- In its 35th Report correctly called for its retention in order to see its impact on a new republic, the more recent 262nd Report could not recommend the punishment’s absolute abolition.
- Cases of violent terror are constant reminders of the need to protect national stability by ensuring appropriate responses to such actions, and the death penalty forms part of the national response.
- It is in this idea that there exists a moral support for the death penalty. A punishment cannot be judged by its impact on criminals but by its impact on those who are still innocent etc.
- In 2015, the Law Commission called for abolition of the death penalty for ordinary crimes, and activists continue to argue for abolishing it altogether. Political will in India is still bound by populism.
- However, the provision of hanging to death may be re-considered as “the Constitution of India is an organic and compassionate document which recognises the sanctity of flexibility of law as situations change with the flux of time.”
- The fundamental right to life and dignity enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution also means the right to die with dignity.
- However, the constitutionality of the death penalty will continue to be challenged and, sooner or later, the Supreme Court will have to answer whether absence of political will is sufficient ground to override the right to life.
Conclusion:
Two-thirds of countries in the world has abolished it. India certainly does not need it as it serves no purpose. The evidence is all to the contrary. For deterrence to work, the severity of the punishment has to coexist with the certainty and swiftness of the punishment.
Topic-Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
Why this question:
The question is in the context of central government’s recent initiatives of providing farmers with solar pumps and other incentives to use renewable solar energy to aid their agriculture practices along with an opportunity to earn an extra income.
Key demand of the question:
The answer must discuss briefly the importance of solar energy in the rural regions of India, its contributions in the development and growth of the villages, agrarian systems and in realizing the dream of doubling farmer’s income.
Directive word:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin with the importance of the Solar energy specifically in the context of rural regions, establish the interlinkages.
Body:
The answer should mainly focus upon listing out the different Initiatives of the Centre in this direction; the aims and objectives of such policies and schemes along with examples justifying the significance of the same.
Discuss how Solar energy would enhance livelihood prospects, improve efficiency in rural households, provide for opportunities and bridge massive infrastructure gaps and improve the social, economic, environment aspects of rural India.
Conclusion:
Conclude with key role of Centre in expediting this process. It must develop new and affordable sources of solar energy, besides educating the rural masses about the benefits of switching to solar.
Introduction:
Rural India continues to be the heart of the country, accounting for 67 per cent of the total population and 37 per cent of its GDP. The primary hindrance to growth in rural productivity and subsequent economic growth, is the lack of basic infrastructure such as electricity, clean water and sanitation. Although India is the fifth largest producer and consumer of electricity, the latter is still a luxury for many.
Solar power offers an opportunity to bridge this massive infrastructure gap and improve the social, economic, environment and health indicators of 30 per cent of India’s population.
Body:
Current Scenario:
- Nearly 300 million people in rural India lack access to grid-connected power, promoting use of archaic sources of energy such as kerosene, diesel, wood-fired chulhas, etc.
- It not only results in huge government subsidies, but also substantial health and environmental hazards.
- Although solar power has been around for a while, historically high costs have necessitated it to be driven by philanthropic capital or government subsidy, thus limiting its scope.
Government’s recent Initiatives:
- A drop in capital cost by nearly 70 per cent over the last four years, solar energy has now become commercially mainstream, thus attracting private capital and entrepreneurs.
- Electricity:
- Government’s vision of ‘Electricity for all by 2019’ has placed special emphasis on incentivising distributed solar power, having already sanctioned 4,604 distributed solar project in rural area to power 4,745 villages/hamlets.
- India plans to install 10,000 small-scale solar-power grids across the country to bring basic electrical power to communities without it.
- Under the Saubhagya scheme, the government has given more emphasis on encouraging distributed solar power.
- Lighting:
- Solar lighting, for example, not only provides a high quality solution to improve rural productivity, but also substantially reduces health hazards by enabling replacement of kerosene lamps.
- Even 4-5 hours of additional lighting can improve productivity and income of rural household by nearly 30 per cent.
- Nearly 3.5 million solar lighting solutions have been installed till date, making it a $200-million market in FY 15.
- Solar micro and mini grid are logical extensions of standalone solar lighting solutions as they have the capability to provide incremental benefits to households like powering fans, mobile charging, community television, as well as facilitating Internet access
- Smarter farming:
- Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM) scheme was launched with the objective of providing financial and water security to farmers.
- The proposed scheme consists of three components:
- Component-A: 10,000 MW of Decentralized Ground Mounted Grid Connected Renewable Power Plants.
- Component-B: Installation of 17.50 lakh standalone Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps.
- Component-C: Solarisation of 10 Lakh Grid-connected Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps.
- They have the potential to substantially improve productivity of Indian farmers.
- Solar agri pumps are an economic and environmentally-friendly alternative to nearly 26 million agri pumps installed in India, of which 10 million are diesel-fired.
- Replacement of 1 million diesel pumps could, over its life, improve agricultural output by ₹30,000 crore, mitigate usage of diesel by 9.4 billion litres — translating into a reduction of diesel subsidy by ₹84,000 million and CO2 abatement of 25.3 million tonnes.
- Central and State governments have introduced multiple favourable schemes to promote usage of solar pumps, by providing subsidy for the upfront costs.
- KUSUM scheme has direct employment potential. Besides increasing self-employment the proposal is likely to generate employment opportunity equivalent to 6.31 lakh job years for skilled and unskilled workers.
Potential applications:
- Clean drinking water remains a big challenge in rural India, since water treatment requires power. Solar energy is finding important applications in this field. For example, Nagaland recently installed a solar powered water treatment plant in Tsiesma, a village near Kohima, which works on an advanced membrane filtration system producing pure drinking water.
- The access to the Internet and television, which can enhance — rural employment, solar-powered basic healthcare centres, solar-powered tablets like those developed by edZilla (which is transforming the scene of education in rural Karnataka), and solar telecom towers, which have the potential to provide economic and hassle-free solutions to nearly 150,000 telecom towers plagued by unreliable energy supply.
- Solar energy also provides a multiplier effect by providing employment and entrepreneurial avenues to rural youth. Given the simple and modular nature of solar systems, large number of semi skilled labourers in rural India can be employed for installation and after sales services of these systems.
- By tapping the potential of Self-Help Groups operated by Village Level Entrepreneurs in the rural areas, the energy sector is helping women become pioneers of clean energy.
- Solar energy has the potential to power the education system in rural areas by providing adequate electricity as well as access to education. It helps in improving the living standards of rural households through solar energy-based interventions and learning facilities in the underserved community. With easy access to electricity through solar energy, new avenues of self-learning by digital content have opened up for the students.
Conclusion:
The decentralised and modular nature of solar power makes it easy to deploy for multiple rural applications, impacting key facets of rural population such as productivity, safety, health benefits, access to clean water, heating solution and livelihood. It is evident that adoption of solar power as an alternative source of energy could alter the socio-economic fabric of rural India, for the better.
Topic: Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics in human actions; dimensions of ethics; ethics in private and public relationships. Human Values – lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators; role of family, society and educational institutions in inculcating values.
Why this question:
The question covers the aspects of Ethical human conduct and its relationship with professional competence. Ethics in private and public relationships is part of paper IV, thus making the question important.
Key demand of the question:
The answer must discuss the what is meant by ethical human conduct, Characteristics of ethical human conduct, different dimensions of human conduct with respect to professional context of competencies.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
One can start with the definition of ethical human conduct and briefly bring out the characteristics.
Body:
Discuss the components of ethical human conduct; What is innateness of human beings? What is our humaneness in reality? Ways and means of achieving ethical conduct, how does it impact our professional life, competencies involved etc. then highlight how it can be achieved and the associated factors.
Conclusion:
Conclude with the importance of it and what things should be done at individual level, societal level to maintain a good ethical human conduct.
Introduction:
The right understanding gained through self-exploration enables one to identify the definitiveness of human conduct which may also be called the Ethical human conduct. It is a basic human trait of being ethical in our behaviour towards others. It is the same for all human beings, and is in agreement with the universal human values.
Body:
It means to be honest and sincere when dealing or interacting with others. It is based on the premise “treat others the way we would like to be treated”. Example: Treating a girl child equal to a boy child. Prohibition of Untouchability etc.
Characteristics of ethical human conduct:
It is a combined representation of – Values, policies and character.
- Values can be witnessed in relationships. The ability to recognize the relationships is due to imagination and being self organized in work. It helps us to live in harmony with family.
- Character is determined by the values one incorporates in his life. It is the outcome of the values he possesses, his perception, imagination and the experiences gained during his life time. Character helps us to live harmoniously in the society.
- Policy: The assets of an individual include the self ‘I’, the body and the physical resources. It is important that proper coordination exists between them. Policies are the rules which when followed help us to protect, enrich and utilize adequately the various assets possessed by us.
In administration, there is always possibility of clash between personal and professional values. The professional values needs an administrator to be objective and impartial. However, this is not possible always. An administrator with ethical human conduct requires to act with compassion and treat people with human dignity.
For instance, Consider the Niyamgiri mining issue in Orissa. The private company Vedanta wanted to mine the resources, however the hills were the abode of primitive tribes who depended on it for their livelihood. Immediate displacement would leave them homeless and jobless pushing them into despair. The issue of development of industry and employment generation and increase in state revenue by way of taxation but on the other hand is the question of ethics where a minority community with hardly any voice of their own whose livelihood and culture could get completely destroyed by the mining project.
The correct way here for an administrator would be to take into consideration the people’s plight. This way the ethical conduct is upheld by lending an ear to the people. Thus, it is imperative to be ethical along with being professionally competent.
Conclusion:
‘Ethical conduct’ implies that it is naturally acceptable and does not give rise to conflict within. Thus, the ‘ethical conduct’ is self-satisfying, people-friendly, eco-friendly and universal.
